Managing High Hotel Real Estate Tax Assessments

April 22, 2014 - By: SC&H Group

Hotel valuation is an extremely complex process and most assessors face challenges in determining the appropriate value of the real estate component because it is tightly bundled with the hotel’s business and personal property.

When travelers rent a hotel room, they are paying for the room, furniture, food services, the reservation systems and more. When the revenue from all of these components is combined to determine the value of the real property, the owners end up paying too much in real estate taxes.

These are some insights from a recent podcast with David Lennhoff, a Principal in SC&H Group’s Appraisal Services practice, who recently taught a seminar on hotel valuation and appraisals at the Real Property Tax Appeals Commission (RPTAC) of the D.C. Government.